COMMENTARYWith an eye on Masters, Couples is heating up

Published 5:30 am, Sunday, April 6, 2008

You might want to sit down for the next part. The truth hurts, but let's try to be adult about this: Fred Couples wasn't doing all that work so he could feel worthy of a tee time at the Redstone Golf Club Tournament Course.

Houston might be the fifth major championship in these parts, but there's this quaint little invitational next week in Augusta, Ga., that keeps commanding Couples' attention. The Masters is Couples' favorite tournament in the world. Augusta National Golf Club has a way of bringing out things he didn't know he had in him.

Couples is 48 and nearly five years removed from winning on the PGA Tour. He is ranked 369th in the world, and his back is as reliable as teenagers on prom night. Logic suggests that he won't have another tearfully happy ending like he did in 2003 across the street at the other Redstone course.

Yet there Couples was barely a week ago in Las Vegas, hitting ball after ball under the watchful — and sometimes, harsh — eye of swing instructor Butch Harmon.

Fred Couples (shown at No. 17 on Friday) came back Sunday with a sharp run on his back nine.

Fred Couples (shown at No. 17 on Friday) came back Sunday with a sharp run on his back nine.

Photo: Marc Feldman, Getty Images

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A swing to savor

Golf fans don't tire of seeing Couples' swing any more than lechers get their fill of that old-school

Farrah Fawcett
swimsuit calendar. At his worst, Couples makes the art of launching a ball into the distance look absurdly easy. At his best ...

Boom. Boom.

One moment, Couples was muddling along as part of the first threesome off the 10th tee in the third round of the SHO. The next moment, magic. More magic. Roars and more roars. Couples shot 29 on Saturday over his final nine holes, tying a SHO record.

Six birdies. One eagle. One par. One bogey. Three of those birdies came in the final three holes, giving Couples a 5-under-par-67 to show for his handiwork. He is 7 under and tied for 10th, eight strokes behind Johnson Wagner.

"My goal is to play well and keep it going," Couples said. "Not shoot 29, but to get it solid so that when I get to Augusta, I won't kill myself (looking for answers) Tuesday and Wednesday."

Harmon has been trying to get Couples to shorten the swing, keep the knees flexed a bit. When Couples lapses, he tends to drop his right shoulder and hit high popups to the right. That's the kind of flaw that can cause Couples to block a drive wide right, into a hazard, the way he did at the par-4 No. 17 on Saturday.

Double bogey. That's no way to foreshadow what would happen once Couples made the turn. He stuck his approach to 10 feet at No. 1 and made the putt for birdie. He stuffed his approach to seven feet at No. 2 and made the putt. And away he went, up the leader board.

"It happened so fast," Couples said. "It was like bang, bang, bang."

At the par-5 No. 4, Couples laid into a 323-yard drive that set up a 16-foot eagle putt. At No. 5, Couples rolled in a 20-footer for birdie. He went at the pin at the 464-yard No. 6, left his approach in the bunker and made bogey.

Instead of letting that lapse sidetrack him, Couples made a 29-footer at No. 7 for one birdie and overpowered the par-5 No. 8 for another. He finished it all off with a flourish, stopping his tee shot at the 238-yard No. 9 less than a foot away from the hole.

"I'm not out here to not play Saturday and Sunday," said Couples, the only University of Houston alum to win the SHO. "But making the cuts and finishing 50th or 60th — that's not really much fun, to be honest with you. If we're 20 weeks into the year and I continue to do that, then I'll really hate it. After not playing (much) last year, I have to start somewhere."

Slowed by back issues

Stricken by more of the back problems that have plagued him most of his career, Couples is playing in only his 12th tournament since the end of 2006. Couples went 72 holes only once in three events last year — at the Masters, where he tied
Gary Player
's record of 23 consecutive cuts made.

One year earlier, Couples matched playing partner Phil Mickelson shot for shot in the final round. Unfortunately for Couples, he couldn't match Mickelson putt for putt and settled for third.

"If I happen to make the cut one more time, that's a nice thing," Couples said. "But I don't want to worry about making the cut because if you do that, then you're barely going to make the cut. You're going to play to make the cut. I've got to go out there and play like I can get myself in position to do well."

Jack Nicklaus was 46 when he won a Masters for the ages in 1986. Couples won the Masters six years later. He never quite got around to picking up a second green jacket.

"I don't think I'm going to all of a sudden hit it 50 percent better than I am now," Couples said. "But if I can go putt well, I think I can compete."